One last subject is the performance of gold and silver themselves—which has been positive for more than two months—and to explain the reasoning behind these rallies.

The type of mine dump that is best for metal detecting are the ones that consist of mixed sizes of rock and are located near some sort of excavation, commonly a shaft or adit. Sometimes the piles located along a trench dug by the miners can be productive as well.

This wash was not far from where I once dug a half-ounce nugget, so I knew there was gold in the area.